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Wake-up Call
March 08, 2007
I've been scarce around this blog for the past few weeks, for a very good reason.
Well, at least I think it's a good reason!
Shortly after all of the ruckus with one of my hosting accounts, I experienced what I can only call a wake-up call.
Those of you who know me well know that I do well in my offline business. It can be kind of cyclical, and when it's busy, it's BUSY, but in terms of income, it's pretty good.
One of the reasons I want to experience a shift in income source, from offline to online, is to relieve the pressure of deadlines. I also liked, very much, the idea that I could do work once, and see it drawing in income over and over again, something which doesn't happen with my offline work.
And another reason - a big reason - was that I want my work to be enjoyable. My offline business is a runaway success in many aspects, but when it's too busy, I just don't enjoy it very much.
So my wake-up call? I realized that after two years online, I'm doing okay, but for the most part, I've really started replacing boring offline work with boring online work.
This really wasn't what I had envisioned when I started out.
I don't know what else you could call it. I mean, contemplating writing articles for an acne site really doesn't do it for me, yet during the past little while, that is exactly the kind of thing I've been doing.
When I get epiphanies like that, I like to spend some time going deep, asking myself what it is I want with my life.
So here I am now, after taking some time off from most of my online work, except for the blogging and Adwords.
There are a few things I do know for sure:
1. I'll continue with my Adwords, done Campaign Blasts-style. And if you're at all interested in Adwords, I'd suggest you take a look at Matt's Campaign Blasts. He recently revised the ebook, and it's a hefty 164 pages now - I think that's double it's previous size. All of it on-target stuff with no filler, and now that I've been playing with the system for a while, I can say it does work.
2. I'll continue with most, but not all, of my revenue blogs - mainly the ones that have been showing a steady increase in monthly income potential.
3. I'll continue with my "passion" sites (there are four of them, one of which is live, and three of which are still on the drawing board but very very close to being ready). I envision these sites making income through a combination of affiliate sales, Adsense, and advertising sales.
What I'm not too sure of, is whether I will continue with any of the other projects I have on the go. My personal 50/100 sites challenge, for example. Or any new affiliate marketing sites, unless it happens to be a subject that I happen to like. The core of my affiliate marketing plans will be based on my Adwords campaigns and my passion sites. My Adsense plans will be based on my blogs and my passion sites.
I'll do light maintenance work on the rest of my existing affiliate and Adsense sites, but I won't be devoting very much time to them anymore. I'll do enough so that the income doesn't slip, but won't work to expand on the income potential.
The bottom line is, I do want to have a good time with whatever I happen to be doing to make a living. And I realized I had shifted my focus too strongly to one thing only: making money. And while that's an important thing, it's not the only thing.
That would just be swapping one thing for another, in my book.
I feel like another "era" has dawned for me. We'll see where all this leads me.
To everyone who has commented here these past two weeks - thank you. I haven't been ignoring you - I was just mostly offline, and actually, really enjoying it.
Which would have sounded like heresy to me just a few short months ago.
And now? I feel refreshed!
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Posted by BJ at 08:37 PM in Web Publisher's Life | Permalink
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Comments
I can totally relate! I've had moments where I've had to take a step back and ask myself "When did it stop being fun" and then it turned into work... dry, boring, work. I've laid off working on sites that I've got that really don't interest me anymore, I might in the future just sell them off so that I can focus on things I really enjoy. Because I want to be happy with what I'm doing when I'm online instead of living life offline. At least in a way it's worth it.
Good luck with everything you've got planned and it's nice to see you back!
Posted by: Empress | Mar 9, 2007 1:33:49 PM
Thanks, Empress. It does feel good to be "back", mentally back. I love what you wrote, and I agree totally. I want to be happy with what I'm doing when I'm online, instead of living life offline!
Posted by: BJ | Mar 9, 2007 1:55:12 PM
The decision you made is similar to one I made a year ago or so. I was trying to pump out as many sites as I could, thinking that if I made a few dollars per day from each site, I'd be golden. After a few months, I realized that wasn't any fun (for me).
Now I concentrate on my two main sites (with two other secondary sites), and have a lot more fun. Being able to really focus on these sites has helped with the quality of the sites, too (and traffic and revenue as well). I made about $5k-$10k per month last year, and I'm on track to double that this year. I don't think my revenue would have hit these levels if I were just pumping out adsense content sites.
As always, YMMV.
Posted by: RP | Mar 9, 2007 4:37:07 PM
You know, I think I am headed in the direction you just came out of. After 2 years, I'm not making the money I think I should be. While my focus hasn't been Adsense in well over a year, there are tasks that I hate doing.
Maybe I should pick a handful of sites and dig deep into those.
Posted by: Jon | Mar 16, 2007 10:38:14 AM
Hey BJ,
I've missed you lady. :)
I'm glad to read that you're moving in a healthy direction for your online business. We are in a similar boat because I found myself becoming quite bored with the build-as-many-sites-as-possible-for-money model.
While it's good to have a few passive income sites which require little maintenance, one cannot spend her entire career building up boring sites that do not hold her attention.
Please do keep us updated on your progress, BJ.
~ Teli
Posted by: Teli Adlam | Mar 16, 2007 3:16:51 PM
Hey BJ, I think working on quality is always the best way to go. I'm at a point where I'm making it easy to add to my product-type sites so I can spend good time and focus on my really good ones. Sounds like a good plan and I'm sure it'll pay off better for you as well.
Posted by: Jenn | Mar 20, 2007 7:38:42 AM
